East Morgan County Hospital's Dr. Schoelkopf takes on Banner leadership program

ByKATIE COLLINS Brush News-Tribune

Posted:
01/07/2013 10:31:56 AM MST

Dr. Lawrence Schoelkopf
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As one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the nation, with more than 35,000 employees under its wing in seven western states, including Brush's East Morgan County Hospital, Banner Health has a wide area and diverse family of health care practitioners to oversee.

To ensure the best quality care, not only for patients of Banner Health facilities but also for employees, the company has directed a featured focus on developing physician leaders among its ranks, with the knowledge that strong guidance among community hospitals can make an important impact for staff and patients alike.

Among physicians throughout the system who have been awarded the unique opportunity to participate in Banner Health's Advanced Leadership Program (ALP) is EMCH Facility Medical Director and Chairman of Surgery, Lawrence Schoelkopf, M.D.

Schoelkopf has practiced medicine in Morgan County for nearly 15 years now, bringing about a unique local expertise that made him a prime candidate to take on the physician leadership role.

"There are leadership positions in every hospital, including a Chief of Staff, chiefs of departments and committees," Schoelkopf said, "and physicians are put in those same roles without any training. This program teaches those skills with leadership and allows us to be a better leader so that we can do things, not by forcing employees to do it because we are in charge, but rather by leading them to do things because we are showing them the right methods.

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Described as a program strategically designed to identify and cultivate talented physicians to become excellent physician leaders, the Banner Health ALP was created to support these emerging physician leaders and provide them with experiential activities.

"The goal of the program is to develop physician leaders and place them in key roles of leading clinical performance groups," said Banner Health Western Regional Medical Officer Sheldon Stadnyk, M.D., who helped create the program. "This puts physicians in the position of helping to guide staff in adopting best clinical practices to improve the care of patients. The more physician leaders we can develop, the more effective the culture change occurs in our organization."

One aspect of the program is to give physicians like Schoelkopf an understanding of health care as a business, helping them to balance the business with the clinical practice to meet society's growing demand for being more judicious with health care resources.

"Medical school is about what you do for the patient in the exam room, in the emergency room and in the clinic," said Dr. Schoelkopf. "The leadership training, on the other hand, is completely different. It's a set of skills that's not developed during medical school, including some business training, which we don't get in medical school either."

The program involves a two-year commitment from physicians chosen to participate, including three months of pre-course work, which Schoelkopf is currently undergoing. That involves self-assessment tests, six months of actual classroom work and then an additional 18 months of experience that will be taken back to the facility to better serve the needs of Morgan County patients. Dr. Schoelkopf will begin the ALP officially in January.

"I want to obtain better leadership skills," said Schoelkopf when asked what he hopes to take away from the program. "It seems to me that what I want to do here is go from a physician who takes care of their own patients to someone who gains these leadership skills that will enable me to influence and lead other physicians to be able to take excellent care of their own patients."

The ALP is hoped to put out recognizable benefits for community hospitals, giving them access to a wealth of knowledge of best practices.

While a rural facility may feel isolated or feel lacking when it comes to access to resources related to the most current evidence based practices, having a physician like Schoelkopf who is building relationships across the spectrum of a health care system will aid community hospitals in receiving continued support.

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